Digital Skills Framework One (“DSFOne”)

A comprehensive framework accommodating all digital skills

“As digital devices of all kinds play an increasingly prominent role in life, learning, work and leisure, the list of digital skills is growing, both in numbers and in nuances. It becomes increasingly difficult to keep the overview across the various sets of digital skills, or to be able to point out which skills are relevant for a specific use context. DSFOne is a comprehensive digital skills framework that provides an overview and that helps in making sense of the mutual relationship between different sets of digital skills.” - Walter Claassen

Rationale

Computers and other digital devices (cell phones, smartphones, tablets) have become ubiquitous, persistent and pervasive. As these devices were put to new uses, and as the technology developed to enable new functionalities and new areas of use, the number of digital skills increased, as well as the demands made upon users. In order to systematize and structure these digital skills, a number of digital skills frameworks were developed over time. Many of these frameworks relate to specific sectors of use only, and the relationship between frameworks is often not evident.

On the whole, users and persons involved in developing strategies for digital skills or in training interventions are confronted with a bewildering array of digital skills, often resulting in confusion and unclarity as to which digital skills are applicable to whom, at which level, for which purpose, and under which circumstances. This confusion is exacerbated by the fact that computers and other digital devices can be put to use in very different situations in life, work, learning and leisure.

To this can be added the fact that, for a large part of the population in many countries, the basic digital phone (also called the “feature phone”) or smartphone might be the first choice or the only digital device available – device that must serve functions that for others would be fulfilled by computers.

With the accelerated development in technologies (and now with the impetus of COVID-19), the digital skills requirements have also accelerated, blurring boundaries between personal and work contexts and posing challenges in terms of a structured approach towards digital skills categories.

The objective with the development of a comprehensive framework was to accommodate the widest possible range of digital skills, from the digital skills required for activities in everyday life to those belonging to the world of work; from those of a general and basic kind, to the highly specialised skills in different professions; from those required to use digital devices, to those necessary to develop the code that makes these devices work. The framework was designed to provide the conceptual and logical space where all of these digital skills can find their appropriate place.

Digital Skills Framework One (DSFOne) is proffered as a comprehensive digital skills framework. The element “One” suggests that this framework could be regarded as a top-level view of the different sets of digital skills, or the starting point of discussions on where the various other areas of digital skills, or digital frameworks themselves, fit into the whole